In Too Deep
by vitoline
Summary: Two months of Arcadia Oaks I could handle. Two months of Steve Palchuk? Forget it. Aja/Steve, Eli/Steve (Aja's POV)
1. Chapter 1

" _Good morning Arcadia Oaks! It's 6:30 a.m. If you're still in bed, you're missing out on the most beautiful sunrise, clear skies, and a beautiful morning ahea – "_

My eyes flew open. I glanced at the digital alarm clock on my nightstand and mentally swore. Realizing the noise was coming from downstairs, I slipped back under the covers.

"Krel, would you please turn that thing off," I groaned. It came out muffled underneath my pillow. " _Krel_!"

I waited for two seconds to give him time. Our television was all the way downstairs, after all. When he didn't reply, I peeked out from my blanket and saw the light in his bedroom finally turn on.

"I heard you the first time Aja," My brother sighed. His voice was shaky as he stumbled out of his room. "But it's not my alarm clock."

"It's coming from the television," I snuggled further into my blanket, speaking to the dark. "Varvatos must've turned it on. Or one of the Blanks."

Krel leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms. He raised an eyebrow. "And you're asking _me_ to go all the way downstairs to turn it off."

"Precisely!" I closed my eyes again in hopes of falling back asleep. A moment later, Krel walked back to his room and slammed the door.

Seklos and Gaylen. I mean, it was worth a shot.

It took all my willpower to kick off the covers and rise out of bed. I immediately collapsed. My hands hit the cold floor before my head did, thank god, and staying in that position, I dragged myself out of my room on all fours. I was _way_ more tired than I realized.

I found the staircase in the dark fast enough and stared at them in exasperation. Finding only one way to go down without standing up, I hesitated before rolling all the way down. Thankfully I was in my Akiridion form, so I could take the hit. If I was dressed as everyday Aja in nothing but her pajamas, I probably would've ended up in the hospital.

 _Wait… Akiridion form?_

Yeah, I should explain.

My brother and I are stuck here on Earth until the Mothership is recharged and can take us to another planet. Luckily, we won't be cornered by the Zeron Brotherhood anytime soon. Zadra managed to contact us through the radio and the Resistance killed them before they could get to Earth. From what she told us, they're all pretty busy trying to get things back in order from Morando. All Krel and I have left to do is bring mama and papa back to life.

So far, my brother's been trying to find parts for a daxial array, whatever that is. One of us was born with the smart genes.

So here we are in Arcadia Oaks. Trying our best to fit in, which I think we've accomplished fairly well. Sure, we've been off to a rough start, but it's a work in progress. At least I'd like to think it is.

"Lively," I muttered under my breath as I heaved myself back up from the ground. Across the room, the television was playing, but oddly enough, no one was watching it.

I scanned the room and realized nobody had woke up either. The living room was just as dark as my bedroom had been, and all the blinds were shut. Even Luug was nowhere to be seen. My heart began to race. Who turned on the TV? And more importantly, was Varvatos really sleeping through all the noise? That's highly unlikely.

I crawled toward the couch and reached for the remote. I paused before looking around the room one more time and turning off the TV.

 _Whatever,_ I shrugged. I stood up and started to walk back up the stairs.

More sleep time for me, right?

The first thing I noticed about Mary Wang was her phone. Yes, quite legitimately her _phone,_ as if it was her only defining feature. She never went anywhere without it.

"Aja, you coming to the party on Friday?" She squealed, shoving her phone into my face. I couldn't help but giggle at her bright pink case.

"I have no time," I replied, carefully putting my textbooks into my locker. _Spanish? Check. History? Check._

"I don't know why you lie to me Aja," Mary slumped against my locker and looked up at me. "At least tell me what you're doing."

Frowning, I closed my locker and shouldered my book bag. I was so caught up in Varvatos' disappearance that I forgot to bring my Spanish homework to school.

"Don't worry about it, Mary. Krel just wants to spend some family time together," I sighed. Although this wasn't entirely true – it wasn't wrong either. We started walking down the hallway.

Her eyes lit up and she jumped up and down like a puppy. "Then bring him! It'll be so much fun! C'mon, Steve will be there?"

I glared at her and continued to walk to Spanish. As much as I hated Senor Uhl, I hated Steve a bajillion times more. I quickened my pace.

"I'm not going!" I yelled as I ran to class right when the bell rang.

Two months of Arcadia Oaks I could handle.

Two months of Steve Palchuk? Forget it.

I sank into my seat. As Senor Uhl began calling attendance, I realized he would be coming around to check the homework.

"Aja Tarron?" He called out, his eyes glued to the attendance sheet.

Panicking, I turned around to see Jim Lake staring at me questioningly. I shook my head and ducked before sneaking out the back door of the classroom.

"Um, she's absent," Jim said, looking down at his blank paper – secretly wishing he'd left class too.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey everyone! So, as you might have noticed this story doesn't follow the 3Below timeline. The Zeron Brotherhood will not appear. I wanted the Tarron siblings to relax and get more comfortable with school. Also, there will be more focus on the Creepslayerz and the Tarron siblings. Jim and the gang will also appear. Thanks for reading!**

Shortly after dinner, my phone rang. I rolled my eyes and ignored the call, knowing it was none other than Mary Wang. As much as I love her, I didn't want to talk to her if it was about the party.

Don't get me wrong. I have absolutely no problems with parties – just ask my brother. He's pretty much known as DJ Kleb for a reason. The Tarron siblings are pretty much invited to any party at this point just for the music, whether we like it or not. I keep reminding him to take a break from DJ-ing if it tires him so much but he hates letting people down.

The real reason was… Palchuk. I already knew he was going to be there, since he hates missing out on anything. He was probably the one who told Mary Wang to tell me. What angered me was that I actually thought he was nice at first. It's ridiculous how arrogant he can be, especially to Jim! Me and Steve? I had to laugh.

I was too busy glowering at my phone screen that I accidentally bumped into the couch Varvatos was sleeping on. "Sorry Varvatos," I said, grabbing a cookie from the table, recognizing their taste immediately. _Mmm_ , thank Seklos and Gaylen for Toby's Nana.

When Varvatos didn't reply, I turned around and peered over the couch. He was lying down, but just barely, as his Akiridion-form was almost thrice as large as his human form. His blue eyes fluttered open and looked at me with a sort-of sadness. I realized he didn't even finish the box of cookies. For some reason it made me feel like crap.

"What's wrong?" I asked, walking around the couch to face him. "And where _were_ you this morning?"

He mumbled something incoherent and tried reaching for the remote. Usually he would get up and wack me on the head with it. I watched him turn on the TV and make eye contact with it instead.

I waited, sitting there on the couch with Varvatos as some stupid show played on in the background. It felt so foreign to be in his presence and feel so distant at the same time. He remained in that position for a solid minute or two until I eventually got up and took the cookie box with me to my room.

Inside my room there was a large desk, a long mirror, my closet on one side and my bed on the other. Taped onto the walls were several posters of bands that Claire and Darci gave me. I tried listening to them once, but I could never get into them. I liked one or two songs at most, just to have something in common with Claire. She makes a point to give me one every week, so she has an excuse to come over and tape them up for me. There was a Papa Skull poster on the freaking ceiling now, for crying out loud.

I flopped onto my bed and stared at Papa Skull. Outside the sun was setting, and after a minute the silence started to kill me.

Bored, I went to Krel's room across the hall and knocked on his door. " _What?_ " Came an annoyed voice from inside. I rolled my eyes and went in, clutching the cookie box.

"I'm full," I said, tossing the box onto his bed and falling face first into his sheets. He didn't even bother to look away from his computer screen. I hugged his blanket as the sound him typing on his keyboard filled the silence.

Krel has always been kind of a genius. As much as I hated it, he was so much better than me at, well, _everything_. At home, only my family knew he was talented. Everyone on Akiridion-5 is very smart, so he was only a little above average at school – but here on earth, it's crazy. He has straight A's in every single class and almost every teacher wants him as a student. With the exception of Coach Lawrence, of course. Compared to my brother I was hopeless. If my parents were here, they'd be so happy for him – and deep down I felt like they would hand him the throne given the chance.

I could tell he was coding in Java for a computer science project. I thought Java was a type of coffee, until he explained it was a programming language that he'd taught himself, with the help of Eli Pepperjack. Krel usually procrastinated so I guessed the project was due tomorrow.

"Are you DJ-ing on Friday?" I asked, my question coming out muffled from under the blanket.

"Yup," He finally said, taking a cookie, his eyes still fixed to his screen. "Why?"

"'Cause." I said. "You shouldn't."

"Claire asked me after school. It's too late," He took another cookie and faced me. " _Why_?"

"''Cause." I said. I couldn't bring myself to mention Steve's name. "You're busy."

"Aja, I have _time_." He said, typing away.

I simply stared at him and tossed my hair back before opening my mouth to say something inherently stupid. "Well I'm not going with you. I got invited out, see."

I awaited his reply as I kept touching my hair some more.

"Uh," My brother narrowed his eyes and rubbed his shoulder. "Didn't you _just_ fight with Steve?"

"I'm not going with Steve you idiot! I'm going with Eli." The words tumbled out of my mouth. I don't know why I said this. "I hate Steve, remember," I blurted, trying to convince myself.

Eli simply glanced at me and I could tell he knew I was lying. "Forget it. I know you're going to end up going. It's who you are. You hate missing out on anything."

I lowered my head and sighed. Krel was starting to get on my nerves even though I knew he didn't do anything wrong. I just didn't want to face the truth.

I picked up the empty cookie box and headed out. It struck me that I really did want to go, and had been using Krel as an excuse this whole time. I didn't understand it – why would I want to deliberately go somewhere Steve would be? He has such a vehement hatred for me. And the best part is, I never did anything to him - or I couldn't have, right? He's just a self-centred, intolerable ass that exhausts everyone and everything around him. I stood there, glaring down the hallway and brooding to myself that I remembered how much I despised him.

And with that, I left a message to Mary just so she knew: I'm definitely _not_ going.


End file.
